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Friday, 18 December 2015

Article: HG Bishop Angaelos delivers keynote address at international conference in Rome on the Christian response to persecution.

HG Bishop Angaelos delivers keynote
address at international conference in Rome on the Christian response to
persecution

After a short introduction by
Daniel Philpott, Associate Professor of Political Science and Peace Studies at
the University of Notre Dame, His Grace Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the
Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom, gave an address titled ‘Christians
in the Middle East: Light in darkness, hope in despair’.

During
his address, he said:

“The world seems to suddenly be waking up to the fact that
there is a problem in the Middle East. That problem, however, did not start
with the mass exodus of Christians from Mosul, because there has been a systematic
and systemic persecution of Christians throughout the Middle East over decades
and indeed over centuries. This ethnic cleansing is an accumulative effect and
our silence has been a contributing factor to what we are seeing today.”

Highlighting the extent of persecution
facing Christians in the Middle East, he went on to say:

“The Christian presence in the Middle East decreased from
25% to just 5%. An even more alarming statistic, is when you take Egypt out of
the equation as the most populous country with the most populous Christian
presence, that percentage falls from 5% to somewhere between 1% and 2% because
there are 13 million Christians in Egypt.”

“That said, I welcome the recent steps taken to present the
actions of the caliphate to be those of genocide. I also welcome even more
strongly, the efforts in the past few days that have sought to ensure that Christians
are not excluded from that equation.”

In speaking of a solution to the Middle
East crisis, Bishop Angaelos said:

“We cannot export models of what we consider to be viable
democratic process to a region that is governed by its own demographics,
dynamics and understanding of what religion is and where it belongs, both in
society and in the lives of individuals.”

Calling for a collaborative response to
the situation, he continued:

“There is a growing disregard for the sanctity of life, and
that must be what offends us. It is not about Christians or Muslims being killed,
but about life and humanity as God’s creation, and that disregard is a
violation that we cannot be silent about. In response we must realise that we
have to respond together, collaboratively.”

“We must come out of
the mentality that speaks of a Christian West and a Muslim East. The Body of
Christ is one that feels pain equally and is affected equally by these horrible
acts.”

Shedding light and hope on the situation
he said:

“The response we have seen to the attacks in Paris, in the
United States, throughout Europe and around the world indicates that there is
an inextinguishable mercy that exists within the human being that rejects this
kind of rampant and indiscriminate violence.”

Speaking of the Christian calling to
advocacy Bishop Angaelos said:

“When we are speaking for others, we have a moral
responsibility to be advocates, in the model of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself,
Who speaks for those who cannot speak, and in a phrase commonly used these
days, He is a voice for the voiceless.”

“In the 21st Century we should not just be
speaking about human rights because life in itself is not a luxury; to live is
a right and to live with dignity is a God-given right that we all receive. In
our discourse we should not merely talk about provision but prosperity, not about
protection but safety, or about survival but dignity; these should be the
baseline of our efforts.”

Offering words of encouragement to all
those working tirelessly in the area of religious freedom, and quoting
Scripture, he said:

“We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention
of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labour
of love..." (1 Thessalonians 1:2-3)

"You
are ‘hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed…perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed...’”(2 Corinthians 4:8-9)

The
Conference, themed ‘Under Caesar’s Sword: Christians in Response to Persecution’
took place at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome, Italy, from 10-12
December 2015, organised jointly by the Centre for Civil and Human Rights at
the University of Notre Dame and the Religious Freedom Project at the Berkley
Centre for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University. The
conference was co-sponsored by the Community of Sant'Egidio.